Steve was a right winger and is the father of Vosper Thorneycroft left winger Ross Wigley and Lymington Town midfielder Jake Wigley.

He started his playing career at his local club Curzon Ashton before being signed by Nottingham Forest in March 1981 and made his Football League debut as a 21-year-old against Arsenal in October 1982. His best season was in 1983-84, when he figured in 39 matches in all competitions as Brian Clough’s side finished third in Division 1 and reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup before a controversial exit against Anderlecht. Steve is remembered for a vintage performance that season at Parkhead as Forest won 2-1 against Celtic after a goalless draw at the City Ground. In four seasons at the City Ground, he made 82 Football League appearances, scoring two goals.

In October 1985, he joined Sheffield United where he made 28 appearances, scoring one goal. Ironically in March 1987, Steve left Bramall Lane to join Birmingham City in a swap deal that saw Martin Kuhl move in the opposite direction. The pair were to become team-mates at Portsmouth later in their careers before both having strong connections with Aldershot Town. He made 87 appearances for the Blues, scoring four goals before joining Portsmouth in March 1989 when manager Alan Ball decided to sign him after he had produced a demolition-inducing performance in 45 minutes at St.Andrew’s against his future employers.

Steve remained at Fratton Park for four years, making 120 appearances and scoring 12 goals before teaming up again with Ball at Exeter City in August 1993 for his final Football League season. By the end of the 1993-94 season, he had made 23 appearances and scored one goal for the Devon club.

Throughout his entire career, Steve made 302 + 38 Football League appearances, scoring 20 goals.

Steve signed for Bognor Regis Town in the summer of 1994, but didn’t finish the season at Nyewood Lane as he joined Aldershot Town as manager in the January; he featured for the Rocks against the Shots earlier in the season and actually came to the Rec as player-manager, but never represented the Shots in a competitive match.

In his first full season, Steve took the club to the fringes of a promotion place, but with plenty to do. An excellent finale to the season saw six successive victories as the Shots finished level on points with Chertsey Town in third place, missing out on promotion on goal difference. In 1995-96, he took the club to the Isthmian League Cup final, where they suffered a 4-1 defeat to Kingstonian at the Rec. They also reached the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup that season before losing to Ashford Town.

After finishing fourth, fifth and seventh in his three seasons, Steve left the Rec in July 1997 to become director of youth development at Nottingham Forest under Paul Hart; he was appointed as first team coach at the City Ground by David Platt in July 1999, a role which he performed whilst being concurrently responsible for the Forest reserve team. He became academy director at Southampton in 2001 and, in February 2004, was appointed caretaker manager after the departure of Gordon Strachan; in August of that year, he became head coach at Southampton on a permanent basis. He was relieved of his duties in December 2004 after just one win in his 14 league matches in charge (that sole victory being against arch rivals Portsmouth), but returned to St.Mary’s a couple of months later for a short spell as Director of Youth Football.

The 2005-06 season saw Steve as reserve team manager at Manchester City before he became assistant manager/first team coach at the City of Manchester Stadium with former Nottingham Forest colleague Stuart Pearce as manager. The pair departed the club in May 2007 and, two months later, Steve was appointed as England under-21 coach, again under the guidance of Pearce; a month later, he was given the additional role as the Football Association’s national coach with responsibility for young players between the ages of 17 and 21.

In July 2008, Steve was appointed as head coach at Bolton Wanderers, who were managed by (another) ex-City Ground team-mate Gary Megson. As a result of this appointment, he relinquished his post as FA national coach, but retained his involvement with the England under-21 side; the summer of 2009 saw Steve involved as England were beaten finalists in the European Under-21 Championships in Sweden. In the last few days of December 2009, Steve took caretaker charge of Bolton Wanderers (together with assistant manager Chris Evans) for about a week following the dismissal of boss Gary Megson; he subsequently left the Reebok Stadium following the appointment of new boss Owen Coyle.

In March 2010 (and with just nine game remaining), Steve became one of newly-appointed Hull City manager Iain Dowie’s coaching staff; unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time left to save the Tigers’ FA Premier League status and they were relegated, which led to the management/coaching team departing. In August 2010, Steve was appointed as assistant manager to newly-appointed Bristol City boss Keith Millen.

Steve is one of several managers/coaches to have attained the prestigious UEFA “Pro” licence and, when not carrying out his “normal” footballing duties, he plays on the “Masters” football circuit and was part of the Nottingham Forest side that won the tournament in 2000.